Gloriana rules an Albion whose empire embraces America and most of Asia. Anew Golden Age of peace, enlightenment and prosperity has dawned. Glorianais Albion and Albion is Gloriana; if one falls, so too will the other. AndGloriana is oppressed by the burden this places upon her - and by the factthat she remains incapable of orgasm. The maintenance of the delicatebalance that keeps Albion and Gloriana thriving depends of Montfallcon,Gloriana's Chancellor, and on his network of spies and assassins - inparticular on Quire, cold hearted seducer of virtue and murderer ofinnocence. When Quire falls out with Montfallcon, he forms an alliancewith his greatest enemy and conceives a plan to ruin Gloriana, destroyAlbion, the empire and the Golden Age itself. But even the utterlyruthless Quire does not fully understand what he has set in motion when hepersuades the Queen to fall in love with him... Moorcock's masterlyevocation of Gloriana's strange and secretive palace and of a vibrantLondon make this one of his most powerful and memorable novels.